June 05, 2006

"Ballot Counting Could Delay Calif. Results"

"Alameda County's return to hand counting of some paper ballots could make for a long evening for poll workers Tuesday and leave the state's neck-and-neck Democratic gubernatorial primary undecided overnight.

Alameda could be the race's determining factor because it has 5.7 percent of the state's registered Democrats.

Polls have shown the race about even between Treasurer Phil Angelides and Controller Steve Westly, who are vying to challenge Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in November.

"We are a little nervous about statewide cliffhangers," said Guy Ashley, a spokesman for the Alameda County registrar of voters. "We would like to be fast and accurate, but if we have to choose one or the other, accurate is what we're going to choose."

The county on the east side of San Francisco Bay sidelined its electronic voting machines after they failed to meet federal and state standards.

The county's board of supervisors voted in March to return to paper ballots until the county could replace the 4,000 Diebold Election Systems touchscreen machines. County officials hope to have new machines in time for the November election, but they still are negotiating with several companies."

Posted by Randy Riddle at June 5, 2006 11:15 AM